[Editorial] Trainee doctors

President Yoon Suk Yeol wishes to meet with trainee doctors to hear them out, Yoon’s office said Tuesday, but the Korea Intern Resident Association has not officially responded. The presidential office made the statement hours after Cho Yoon-jeong, public relations committee chief of the Medical Professors Association of Korea, implored KIRA leader Park Dan to meet with Yoon “without any conditions” if the president extended the invitation. Yoon said Monday the medical communit

April 4, 2024

[Editorial] Protect voting stations

It is not only shocking but also deeply unsettling that police detained a YouTuber last week on suspicion of installing spy cameras in two cities, just ahead of the April 10 parliamentary elections. On Sunday, an Incheon court issued a warrant to arrest the YouTuber in his 40s for allegedly placing spy cameras at around 40 polling stations in several regions including Seoul, Busan and Daegu. On Monday, police sought arrest warrants for two suspected accomplices who helped the YouTuber install th

April 3, 2024

[Editorial] Yoon's speech

President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Monday the medical community should present a unified plan based on scientific grounds if it wants the government to revise its policy for medical reform. In a televised speech that lasted for 50 minutes, Yoon reiterated the need for increasing medical school enrollment by 2,000 starting next year, and said that the government’s policy can always change for the better if better ideas based on reasonable grounds are presented. "The number 2,000 is the mi

April 2, 2024

[Editorial] Minimum wage for 2025

As Minister of Employment and Labor Lee Jung-sik on Friday officially requested the Minimum Wage Commission review the wage for 2025, heated debate is expected to play out over the next three months -- the timeline set by law to finalize the country’s minimum wage. In previous years, the focus had largely been placed on whether the tripartite Minimum Wage Commission, which is composed of nine members each from the labor, business and public sectors, would reach the threshold of 10,000 won

April 1, 2024

[Editorial] Lee's 'simple' views

Lee Jae-myung has said and done many shocking things, so nothing is surprising anymore. But the fact that the leader of the main opposition party cares so little about what is happening around the world perturbed many South Koreans this week. During a stump speech in Dangjin, South Chungcheong Province, on March 22, Lee said the Chinese aren’t buying South Korean products because they don’t like Korea. “Why does (the Yoon Suk Yeol administration) harass China? Just say ‘x

March 29, 2024

[Editorial] A warning behind rumors

Rumors about “a crisis in April” recently swirled around in the financial and construction sectors last week, floating a possibility that debt problems stemming from project financing could spin out of control and touch off a chain reaction of insolvencies and a credit crunch among home builders and financial firms. The gist of the rumor is that the government would start restructuring the PF-related sector saddled with troubled building projects and the shortage of funds once the Ap

March 28, 2024

[Editorial] Populist pledges

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, proposed offering 250,000 won to every South Korean 17 days ahead of the April 10 general election. Blaming the Yoon Suk Yeol administration for an “economic crisis” and high prices, Lee said Sunday the people’s livelihood needed “CPR,” and suggested offering an average of 1 million won per household in cash vouchers that can be used at local businesses, “like the disaster relief during CO

March 27, 2024

[Editorial] Vetting failures

In legislative elections, voters may expect candidates to have certain qualifications and attributes, such as competence, integrity and commitment to the rule of law. In South Korea, however, it is due time for public expectations about such essential qualifications to be lowered, as some candidates nominated by major parties have problematic backgrounds, including criminal records. The disappointing records were revealed as candidates completed their registrations last week for the April 10 gen

March 26, 2024

[Editorial] Game of chicken

Trainee doctors who walked out over a month ago, and refused to comply with the government’s order to return to work face three-month license suspensions starting this week. Professors at 19 medical schools said they would begin tendering their resignations from Monday unless the government takes proactive steps for dialogue. Once their medical licenses are suspended, the interns and residents will not be allowed to do even volunteer work as doctors inside or outside of South Korea. They c

March 25, 2024

[Editorial] Perils of hasty policy shift

In recent years, many Korean homeowners have come under overwhelming pressure over soaring property taxes, due partly to the previous Moon Jae-in administration’s controversial real estate policy to increase the state-led declared prices of properties to 90 percent of market value by 2035. President Yoon Suk Yeol announced in a town hall meeting on Tuesday that the government will abolish the “reckless” declared real estate price policy, openly criticizing Moon’s policy t

March 22, 2024

[Editorial] Talks must begin

The government’s plan to increase medical school enrollment by 2,000 from next year became more specific on Wednesday as it announced that 1,639, or 82 percent, of the additional places will go to colleges outside the greater Seoul area. Of the 40 medical colleges in South Korea, 13 are in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province. They account for 1,035 places, or 33.8 percent, of the nation’s current total of 3,058. In case of the so-called “mini” medical colleges that admit

March 21, 2024

[Editorial] Korea’s slow pace in chip race

The news reports last week that Samsung Electronics would likely receive over $6 billion in subsidies from the US government for expanded investments present mixed implications for both the South Korean government and the chipmaker. It is certainly a positive development for Samsung to receive the largest amount of subsidies as a non-American company. Given that the subsidies would amount to a range between $2 billion and $3 billion, the scale of US support tops expectations by a wide margin. Th

March 20, 2024

[Editorial] Ambassador to Australia

Lee Jong-sup, a former defense minister who is under investigation over allegations that he meddled with an internal probe into the death of a young Marine last year, began serving as South Korea’s ambassador to Australia last week. In July 2023, Marine Cpl. Chae Su-geun was found dead after being swept away by a torrent in a stream in Yecheon County, North Gyeongsang Province, during a search mission for victims of heavy rain. The Marines were ordered to go into the overflowing stream wit

March 19, 2024

[Editorial] No laughing matter

President Yoon Suk Yeol’s senior secretary Hwang Sang-moo issued a formal apology Saturday, two days after his controversial remarks about a 1988 terrorist attack on a journalist and the 1980 Gwangju Democratic Uprising touched off a firestorm of criticism from the media and opposition parties. “I apologize for the distress my words have caused,” Hwang said in a notification to the press from the presidential office. “I apologize to the journalists for failing to consider

March 18, 2024

[Editorial] Strike goes overboard

With medical school professors shaving their heads and threatening to resign to “protect” their students and trainee doctors, the doctors’ strike has gone too far. Earlier this week, the government sent notices to over 5,500 trainee doctors who left work more than three weeks ago and have not complied with the ministry’s order to return to work that their medical licenses will be suspended. Medical students are taking leaves of absence en masse and may be collectively flu

March 15, 2024

[Editorial] Proportional seats in trouble

South Korean voters are already feeling deep political fatigue, as major parties have unsurprisingly sparked a flurry of disputes over their candidates for the upcoming National Assembly election. On Tuesday, Jeon Ji-yeh offered to resign from her candidacy for a proportional representative seat for a satellite party linked to the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, a development that sheds light on the fundamental weakness of the current election system. A civic group earlier recommended

March 14, 2024

[Editorial] Obsession with scores

The state auditor’s latest disclosure of illicit trading of test questions between schoolteachers and cram schools known here as hagwon once again reminds one of the need to further diversify the college admissions system. The Board of Audit and Inspection said on Monday it has requested a police investigation into 56 people, including 27 schoolteachers who sold exam questions to the after-school study centers for violating the anti-graft law, obstruction of business and bribery by breach

March 13, 2024

Avert medical crisis

South Korea continues to suffer medical service disruptions across the nation as nearly 12,000 intern and resident doctors, who play key roles in diverse fields at major hospitals, remain off work over the government’s plan to increase the medical school enrollment quota. As the confrontation between the government and junior doctors enters its fourth week, local hospitals have been forced to delay or cancel surgeries amid deepening concerns that these medical disruptions could drag on wit

March 12, 2024

[Editorial] ‘Peace’ out

The Foreign Ministry is set to downsize and revamp an office in charge of diplomacy related to North Korean nuclear issues amid a prolonged stalemate in dialogue with Pyongyang. The Office of Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs, led by a vice ministerial level official, was established 18 years ago in a whirlwind of nuclear diplomacy with the North through six-party talks among the two Koreas, the US, China, Russia and Japan. It was set up as a temporary agency, but was made a permanent

March 11, 2024

[Editorial] ‘Sticky’ inflation

South Korea’s inflation rose back to over 3 percent in February due to the high prices of fresh food and energy, meaning both the Bank of Korea and the Yoon Suk Yeol administration face a bewildering situation where there are few quick fixes to tame rising prices. Consumer prices, a key measurement of inflation, rose 3.1 percent on-year last month, according to the data released by Statistics Korea on Wednesday. It was a discouraging development for policymakers who had expected inflation

March 8, 2024